


Flamebright

by usablehoney



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-02-01 03:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21351790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usablehoney/pseuds/usablehoney
Summary: Aubrey Little only wants to take responsibility for her rare, magical powers; Never doing anything wrong, never making any mistakes, and never, ever again accidentally hurting someone she loves. However, when this self-discipline turns into excessive fear and guilt, she’ll need to search for a glimpse of what life outside of those suffocating feelings can be.
Relationships: Dani/Aubrey Little
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Flamebright

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Just wanted to preface this by saying that I have never written and published a fanfiction before, so this is kind of exciting and new! I wrote this for an English assignment, and now I have published it for you; Please enjoy! :D

Once upon a time, when the Earth was new and teeming with magic, there lived a young and powerful sorceress. She had eyes like orange sunrises, a smile as sweet as sugar, and incredible, fantastical abilities unlike anything her world had ever seen before. Her name was Aubrey, and all who knew her lived in awe and confusion of her power. 

Aubrey, who glowed with the praise people gave her, and was known to radiate the confidence of a burning star, also held a terrible secret; Though her power was great, it was also wild, and unrestrained. When she was a child, the opulent home in which she was raised burnt to the ground, reducing her loving mother and her every earthly possession to ash. Aubrey knew that it was an errant burst of fire magic she had absent-mindedly cast that had started the blaze. And from this experience, she also learned that fire could not harm even a single, coiled hair on her head, a fact she lamented after seeing how her uneducated, childish use of magic had cost her everything her wild, beating heart loved. From that day forward, Aubrey lived in fear of the strange magic that had made its home in her veins and in her bones; With every spell she cast, beneath her false, showman’s bravado, was a scared young girl, guilty about a past she could not change, and scared of an unknown future that she felt would contain only more mistakes and tragedies. 

It was a contemplative autumn day when Aubrey, a ten long years later, on the anniversary of her mother’s death, lost control of her magic again. The young sorceress was walking through the woods, bundled in a long red cloak, and wearing the last thing she had left of her past; An orange, crystal necklace that had once belonged to her mother. The winds blew at Aubrey’s back, ruffling her long, velvet coat, and carrying a particular scent through the forest; She swore that sometimes, a certain smell in the air would send her straight back into the arms of her mother, and a pang of love, and guilt and anguish would ripple through her chest, dragging her out of the present moment. The rough, tender edges of her loss chafed horribly with every aspect of her life. The cold winds stung Aubrey’s face as tears welled up in her eyes, a physical pain to give companionship to the hurt she felt in her heart. As the winds picked up higher, faster, and colder, Aubrey sank to her knees in the yellow grass and brightly colored fall leaves, and covered her eyes to cry. While she cried, the winds began to swirl around her, lifting her heavy cloak up, and up, and up, and then swirling the thousands of dead leaves that surrounded her on the ground. Aubrey opened her eyes, puffy and red from crying, to gaze at the sudden spectacle of nature that was coming to life around her. The thousands of red, orange, and yellow leaves spun around her, faster and faster, until suddenly, Aubrey realized that she could no longer see the world outside; It was beautiful and terrifying, and Aubrey, dazed and confused, had no idea what to do but stand in the center of it all.

The time that passed while Aubrey stood in the eye of this hurricane could have been either the passing of a few shallow breaths, or a few millennia; She had never been great with estimating time, but something told her that anyone caught up in this surreal experience would feel a bit disoriented, too. Her heart raced in her chest as the swirl of leaves moved around her so quickly and so closely that it no longer resembled thousands of leaves, but looked more like one, great, raging fire. Her throat grew dry as she silently begged for the supernatural whirlwind to end. 

And end it did; gradually, yet all at once. And when the foliage settled around Aubrey’s feet, she realized that she was no longer knew where she was. The forest setting had shifted, and was certainly not the place that she had been crying mournfully in before; Nothing looked familiar, and the sky had taken on a different, deeper quality, in such a strange way that Aubrey could not discern whether it was day or night. 

The trees were a captivating, jewel-like green that she had never seen before, and the ground beneath her feet felt different too, looser, and less stable than what she expected. Everything was a disorienting type of slightly off. 

_“Oh, gosh, where am I?”_ Aubrey thought to herself, fearfully, her grief temporarily replaced by rising panic and confusion; She looked frantically around, eyes searching for any sign of the familiar place she had previously been in. But there was no trace of the recognizable forest setting to be found. 

“H-hello?” She called out into the mysterious forest, trying to steady her shaking voice as she pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. To Aubrey’s great surprise, there was a quiet response; 

“Hello? Who’s there?” Asked a delicate yet urgent voice, that Aubrey had never heard before. She suddenly became more fearful; What if the owner of the voice was unfriendly? She looked for a place to hide, but it was too late; A figure emerged from the shadowy forest; the owner of the voice. 

This new person stepped closer to Aubrey, who took inventory of the stranger; She was tall, with pale, pockmarked skin, and long, blonde hair. She was wearing a comfortable, functional looking green dress and cape, that made her look very at home in the strange, emerald green foliage of the forest. The thing that caught Aubrey’s attention the most, however, was the stranger’s face; She had piercing, yellow eyes, and from her slightly ajar mouth, long, white fangs were visible. 

Aubrey knew staring was rude, but she couldn’t help but study the stranger for a few moments. “Who are you?” She asked, heart in her throat, once she felt the silence needed to be broken. 

“My name is Dani,” the stranger answered, seeming just as confused about Aubrey’s presence as Aubrey was of hers. “What’s your name?” She added. 

“Well, I’m Aubrey,” She said, trying to appear slightly more in control of the situation than she felt. “But I’ll be honest with you,” She continued “I have no idea where we are right now, or really… How I got here at all. Do you, uh, think you could help me? Or, at least not hurt me-?” She asked, starting to catch herself rambling. 

Dani smiled softly, her eyes bright. “Hey, Aubrey, it’s okay! Wherever you came from, I’m sure we can get you back safely, alright? I know these woods well, and I promise I’m not going to hurt you.” 

Aubrey thought about the place she had come from, where she had shed many tears, and had felt wracked by years-old grief and guilt with no relief. She tried to shake away those unpleasant feelings and memories. She looked back at Dani’s reassuring face, and her nervousness subsided very slightly. “You mean that?” She asked, hesitantly. 

“Of course!” Dani said kindly. “Where do you come from, by the way?” She asked, curiously. “Srilwell? Egorith? Trowood?” She listed off the names of places that sounded utterly foreign to Aubrey. 

“Oh, uh-” Aubrey began feeling nervous again. “Um, Dani, I’m not from any of those places, and, actually, I’ve never heard of them before.” A realization began to dawn on Aubrey, that made her feel sick to her stomach. “Dani, this is going to sound like a strange question, but could you tell me what planet we’re on right now?” 

Dani looked at Aubrey quizzically, arching an eyebrow. “We’re on Sylvain,” She answered slowly. “Where else would we be?” 

Aubrey’s stomach dropped, and a cold fear began to work its way through her chest. In her moment of intense misery on Earth, when she wished she could just leave behind her anguish and painful memories and be anywhere else, she must have inadvertently cast a spell that sent her far, far away; To a place across the solar system, a planet called Sylvain, which she only knew the name of from her astronomy classes. She started to feel faint, but tried to keep her wits about her. 

“Dani, I- Oh, gosh, you might not believe me, and you might not be able to help me anymore, but-” she bit her lip. “I’m not from Sylvain; I’m from Earth, and I know that I don’t know how to get back, at all.” She admitted to Dani, but primarily to herself. It was shockingly grounding to say aloud that she was no longer on the only planet she had ever known. 

Dani looked shocked, and for a moment, she didn’t say anything. She pursed her lips, then spoke. 

“Well, Aubrey,” she said. “I suppose that’s good to know! But I see that as all the more reason for me to not leave you alone out here in the woods. Will you come with me, back to Sylvain’s capital city? It’s the safest, most magical place I know of, and, not to make this situation about me, but it’s where I’m heading too! What do you say?” 

“You know what, Dani?” Aubrey began, realizing that going back to crying in the forest alone was not what her heart wanted, and, additionally, a spark of curiosity about Sylvain, and her new companion had been ignited in her mind. “I think I would like that very much.” She said with a tired but sincere smile, which Dani returned in kind, and began walking east. 

After two hours of their eastward journey through the Sylvanian forest, Aubrey and Dani watched the sky grow darker, and small, pale-green pinpricks of starlight began to shine. Their path, no longer illuminated by the sun’s light, became obscured and harder to follow. Dani, however, continued to navigate the trail with supernatural ease. 

“Oh, darn,” Dani cursed. “Sorry, Aubrey. You probably can’t see in the dark very well, can you?” She asked, sheepishly. 

“No, I can’t,” Said Aubrey, squinting. “How can you?” 

Dani pointed to her glowing, golden eyes, and gave Aubrey a sharp-toothed but sweet grin. “Night vision!” She explained. “The majority of Sylvans, like me, have it. But I don’t want you to have to stumble around in the dark all the way to the city, so… I’m not sure what we’re going to do,” Dani mused, thumbing absent-mindedly at a blemish on her cheek. 

Aubrey hesitated, and frowned. She had an idea, but she didn’t love it. “Well, I can do one thing that would help me to see in the dark,” She began. “It makes me nervous, but I can summon an enchanted ball of flame in my hand.” 

Dani’s eyes went wide. “You can?” She exclaimed brightly. “Aubrey, that’s so cool! It would be perfect for helping us through the forest if you could do that; Why does it make you nervous?” 

Aubrey’s frown deepened. “It’s just… Uhm, well, so many things could go wrong, you know? Fire is dangerous, and magic is even more dangerous, and what if I mess something up? Sometimes I wish I didn’t even have any powers at all.” She admitted, sounding frustrated and upset. 

“Oh, Aubrey,” Dani said, sympathetically. “Of course magic can be dangerous, but the odds of a simple flame spell going horribly wrong aren’t too high. Are you sure you don’t want to try casting a small one, just until we get to the city? It’s not far, now.”

Aubrey hesitated, thinking carefully over the choice. Dani was right, really. Aubrey was a sorceress, after all, and she had, for many years, had much better control over her magic. She reflected on all the times she had missed opportunities, or made things harder on herself, because she was always living in the shadow of her “What Ifs,” and guilt and fears. Perhaps it was time to let go of some of that. 

“Hm,” She mused, looking at Dani’s hopeful face. “I suppose a small one couldn’t hurt.” And with a dramatic swish of her hand, and a couple of arcane words whispered under her breath, Aubrey conjured a steady, illuminating ball of orange flame in her open palm. It perfectly lit up the dirt path, overgrown with leaves and brambles, as well as Dani’s face, which displayed a wide, impressed smile. 

“Wow, Aubrey!” She remarked gleefully, admiring the spell. “That’s so incredible, I’ve never seen a fire spell as bright as that! You must be a really great sorceress, huh?” 

Aubrey beamed with Dani’s compliment, and her fireball grew brighter and warmer, illuminating more of the verdant forest around her companion. To Aubrey’s surprise, however, she felt no fear of losing control of her magic; She felt stable, confident, and pleased that she had taken a risk that paid off. “Thank you, Dani,” She said, smiling gratefully. And with that, the two of them set off again, farther down the trail to the city. 

It was another two hours later when Dani and Aubrey saw the first lights of Sylvain’s capital city. It was an impressive sight, the hundreds of differently shaped and sized buildings, all lit up and sprawling across the nighttime skyline. Despite it being late at night, the city was still awake, and bustling with Sylvan citizens. Aubrey and Dani smiled at each other, pleased to finally have reached their destination. As they entered the bounds of the city, the first thing Aubrey saw was a crystal. It sat in the middle of a large plaza, and was three times the size of Aubrey herself; It was a brilliant green, and it glowed very softly. There was a circle of grass and wildflowers surrounding it, as well as a small, seemingly protective ring of stones. The Sylvans milling about the plaza seemed to weave around the crystal, keeping a respectful distance. It was then that Aubrey noticed one other thing; The otherwise flawless surface of the crystal was marred by a large gash, cut into its shining surface. 

“What happened to that crystal?” Aubrey asked Dani with quiet curiosity. 

Dani tilted her head to one side, and for a moment, looked contemplative. 

“That’s the Heart Of Sylvain,” Dani explained, looking reverently at the crystal. “It’s the thing that has been driving our planet’s life force for many years. A long time ago, though, when our planet was much less peaceful, it got damaged.” 

“Oh no!” Aubrey said, upset. “That’s awful, I’m so sorry that happened to you guys!” 

Dani smiled sadly, her pale face illuminated by the fluorescent green lights of the plaza. She shrugged, calmly. “It was a horrible thing that happened to Sylvain. But it happened a long time ago, and, well; Life goes on.” 

Listening to those words, Aubrey felt a new feeling, one that she could not name, surface in her chest; _Life goes on._

She looked around at the people of Sylvain, weaving around the magical crystal, nearly all of them pausing for a brief moment to admire it, then carrying on with their business; It made sense that it caused them some sadness, sure, but they embraced it, and lived with it, not in spite of it. Aubrey, saw this, and thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. 

“Dani?” She asked gently, voice no louder than a quiet breath. 

“Yes, Aubrey?” Dani responded. 

“I don’t think I’m too bent on going back to Earth quite yet; I want to see how people live their lives here, on Sylvain.” 

Dani gave Aubrey another sweet, excited smile, and took her hand in hers. 

“You know what? I think that’s a fine idea!” 

And with a gentle tug from Dani, who was leading the way, Aubrey opened her heart, mind, and eyes to see what life without remorse could be.


End file.
